A Blast From The Past
by blurredvisions
Summary: Buffy is losing her emotional battle, but an unlikely savior will come, and it's someone from her past.
1. Graveyard Meetings

A Blast From The Past 

By Dannette 

_Buffy is losing her emotional battle, but an unlikely savior will come, and it's someone from her past._

  
  
  


**Author's Notes - **This story takes place after everybody knows that Buffy was taken from heaven and not hell. But Buffy and Spike aren't together. Nothing against them, I think they are majorly cute, but in this story I have a different couple in mind. By the way, you may be a bit confused by this story, if you haven't seen the 1992 Buffy The Vampire Slayer movie, just a warning.   


*** 

Love. 

Hate. 

Heaven. 

Hell. 

There seemed to be no difference to Buffy Summers anymore. She at one time in her life, felt all of those emotions and more, but now they were just all mixed up in her head. Which was a scary place to be in nowadays, inside of her head, it would scare even the bravest warrior. Hell, it even scared her nowadays, everything was just so wrong, so confusing, so painful in that head of hers. 

So many conflicting emotions, a war of conflicting emotions. A war on her soul, her body, mind, etc ... a war that seemed to have no solution, no finale, no ending. There were no big fireworks foreshadowing the end of the stressful war on her, it was endless. The war just continued to wreck havoc on her body, and about now, she had given up on caring, given up on trying to cry out for help. 

She didn't even feel scared anymore. Fear. That emotion, like the others, seemed to disintegrate from her body. Fear was like an old memory for her; she could remember a time where she held fear, but there was no foreshadowing, no sign of it coming back. 

So many things she had lost during the fall. _The Fall. _It sounded like a movie of the week or some cheesy romance/mystery novel. Something you would think you would see on lifetime with actors who over dramatized their words and actions. The fall, it sounded too cheesy, too corny, too much like something you would see on CBS. Her sacrifice. Yeah that sounds better. 

Her sacrifice, to save Dawn, to save the world, yet again. She had faced death so many times, even died once, but she hadn't been ready, been ready to completely let go of life, but she had. In the end, she had given up her life, for Dawn's, for Xander's ... for everyone else she cared about, hell she gave up her life for the people she didn't even know. For the sake of mankind. 

She felt like screaming, what about her? What about what she wants? But all the selfishness in her body was gone as well, she didn't have the strength to even care about herself. Everything was so completely messed up. She had been in Heaven, such a beautiful place ... so ... tranquil, but she had been torn away from there. She had been ripped away from the peace and thrown back in Sunnydale, it wasn't as if ... she wasn't happy that she was back with her friends and Dawn. But there was no peace. 

She wanted the silence again, there was too much screaming, too much pain, and the fault in that ... was that she was the only one who could hear the screaming, she was the only one who could feel the pain. There were times where she just wanted to scream, scream for help; but her voice always died before she could scream. She would choke over the words, as if they were impossible to say, she could feel them on the tip of her tongue, but yet she couldn't say them, it was just too hard for her, too painful. 

Being around her friends, even Spike ... who she guessed was a friend, in a way ... hurt her too much. They hurt her without even knowing it, she tried to act like she didn't realize the distinct feeling of emptiness she got whenever she was around them. Whenever Xander and Anya would smile or laugh at each other, it was just black. Just empty, dark, and dank, it had no effect on her. Not even talking to Willow helped her, Willow was the one person who could always make her feel good, and that feeling was gone. 

That was why she was here, in the Sunnydale graveyard. She needed to get out, she needed to get away from Giles and the rest of them, she just needed to be alone, to get a hold of all the things inside of her head. Patrolling. That always helped her, patrolling always got her mind off of the things she didn't want to think about, it was always such a release. But even as she walked through the graveyard, she was empty. Even as her tennis shoes crunched underneath the dead leaves that had fallen from the trees, she couldn't feel whole, she couldn't feel alive. The wooden stake she twirled in her hand, felt like a devoid item, it felt like it wasn't even there. The distinct smell of death was in the air, and yet it didn't seem to bother Buffy in the least, but it never did. The smell, she was just so used to it by now, she just couldn't help but inhale it and not care, but this time there was no shivers down her spine. No 'wiggins' as her, Willow, and Xander used to call it during high school. The darkness of the night didn't seem to bother her either. It was pitch black, and yet Buffy just walked through the graveyard, not even watching where she was going, it didn't mean a thing. 

Buffy had felt a lot of pain in her life before, but this ... this pain, it was just unbearable. She had never felt anything like it, these new emotions, were paralyzing. She felt like she couldn't move at times, there were times where she felt like she was crippled. She could just stand there and not move, even though she would try her hardest to move, her body just wouldn't allow it. She just froze. Mostly she did it when she was by herself, like when a plate would fall, she would freeze, instead of trying to grab it, like she usually did. She was worrying her friends enough already, she was even worrying Spike, but that was a complete different tale to begin with. 

Buffy's mind went blank again, as her ears perked up a sound of another pair of feet walking, not that far away from her either. Buffy whipped her head to the right, then to the left, and then she even looked behind her, yet she found nothing. Buffy's eyes were alert, scanning the graveyard, but there was no sign of any intruders but herself. Buffy's face scrunched up when she felt a familiar pain, cramps. Buffy brought her left hand to her abdomen, as the cramps got worse, when the footsteps got louder in her head. Something was wrong, she didn't need the cramps for a sign of vampires anymore, she had stopped getting those when ... when Merrick, her first watcher, back in LA, had died. _Killed, _Buffy mused; she let out a soft moan, and leaned against one of the graves, as the cramps continued to invade her body, what the hell was going on? Buffy's long blonde hair suddenly blew against her face, as the wind gushed past her, the wind was unbelievably cold. _Major wiggins, _Buffy thought to herself, trying to straighten herself up. 

Buffy looked down at the ground, when she felt a slight brushing of ice cold fingers against her bare legs. Buffy, before she could react, was grabbed by a pair of hands and thrown down to the ground. Buffy let out a grunt, she reached for her wooden stake that she had dropped on the way down. Buffy looked to the grave, and watched the vampire rise from the grave, Buffy froze as she watched the vampire advancing towards her. She could feel the paralyzing feeling again, _not now ... _Buffy thought to herself. She shook the cobwebs out of her head and made a final reach and grabbed the wooden stake, just when the vampire grabbed her leg. Buffy let out an unexpected scream, that seemed to echo throughout the whole graveyard; Buffy kicked the vampire away and held the wooden stake in her hand, which was shaking, her fear was practically radiating for the vampire to see. 

The vampire, the young looking man, with cold, blank eyes, flashed a toothy evil grin at Buffy, loving the fear he was seeing in front of him. "The Slayer is afraid of a mere vampire?" The vampire asked, with a spine chilling chuckle, that shuddered throughout his whole body. "What a surprise this is, what a meal you will be." The vampire said, advancing towards Buffy again, with more confidence. 

Buffy positioned her body and did a cartwheel backwards, positioning herself away from the vampire for a few seconds. "You know, I hate when you vamps get all cocky, I mean hello, if anyone should be cocky, it should be me ... I'm about to dust you." Buffy said, actually getting her ability to be sarcastic back. Buffy jumped up, and grabbed onto a tree branch, she did a back flip and landed gracefully on the edge of the tree branch. Buffy balanced herself, she did a cartwheel across the tree branch and finally off the tree. Buffy did a spinning heel kick to the vampire's face, sending the now not so confident vampire back, before she landed on her feet. 

The vampire let out an angry howl of pain. 

Buffy smirked, but there was no humor in her eyes. "Aw, did I ruin the moment we were having?" Buffy asked, twirling her stake. 

"No, but they will." The vampire replied, just giving Buffy a few seconds, before four vampires attacked her from behind. 

Buffy fell down to the ground in pain, she let go of the stake, as the four plus the newly risen vampire, attacked her. Buffy laid on the ground and let the vampires attack her, without even trying to fight back. She knew she could stake all five of them, if she tried, but she just let them attack her. Suddenly all the energy she had was gone, she had no desire to stake or fight anything. She was devoid. Buffy let out a strangled scream, when one of the vampires wrapped their cold hands around her throat, choking her. Buffy fumbled for her stake but it was too far away, out of her reach. As she felt the vampire lean down, probably to drain her, her eyes became alert when she heard a sixth pair of footsteps, except he didn't smell like a vampire. Before Buffy could react, the vampire who was about to drain her suddenly turned to dust, which indicated that he was staked. Buffy let out a cough, she pushed her weight against her hands as she pulled herself up. Buffy tried to catch a glimpse of her saver, but he was thrown across the graveyard before she could see his face, by the remaining vampires. Buffy watched on as her saver was being attacked, Buffy reached for her stake. 

"Kill the human who dared interrupt us!" The leader of the vampire pack, screamed. 

The three vampires nodded and attacked the young man who was donned in a black leather coat and navy blue jeans. But they were taken by surprise when he flipped over the tombstone, and then disappeared out of their view. The youngest vampire, just 108 years old, looked around cautiously. The only things he had seen move that fast, were slayers, but he knew this young human wasn't a slayer, he was a male, plus he couldn't smell the Slayer blood from him. The young vampire let out a scream when he was attacked from behind, he let out a last strangled scream, before the mystery man snapped his neck quickly, killing the vampire in a second. 

Buffy watched the youngest vampire explode into dust with wonder in her eyes, she had never seen someone move like that, besides Angel, and Buffy knew that whoever this man was, was indeed a human. There was something about the way he moved, that struck her as familiar, the way he rushed himself into danger. _Only if I could see his face, _Buffy thought to herself in silence. 

The middle vampire, lunged at the mystery man. He grabbed the young man by his throat and threw him against a tree. The vampire let out a grin, and advanced towards the man, but stopped, and howled in pain, when an arrow pierced his shoulder. The vampire whirled around and glared when he saw Buffy. 

"Leave him alone!" Buffy screamed. "You want me, here I am." Buffy replied, raising the crossbow once more, her eyes narrowed, and her game face on. She still had no idea who this mystery man was, since she still hasn't seen his face, but she felt a need to protect him. Maybe it was just because he was an innocent, or maybe it was the fact that _he _saved _her, _she didn't know. 

The leader of the pack, chuckled, and grabbed Buffy by her pony-tail and lifted her up in the air. "Oh believe me, we do want you, but we can deal with killing the intruder. Kill the boy, Brian, kill him now, I've got the bloody slayer." The leader grunted out. 

Buffy struggled against the strong vampire, he was obviously stronger than the other two. Buffy widened her eyes, when she saw the mystery man get up. She searched for his face, but his head was bowed down. "WATCH OUT!" Buffy screamed, when the two other vampires charged at her mystery savior, one on each side of the mystery man, she closed her eyes, not wanting to watch. 

The stranger, the man whose face had yet been to seen by Buffy, held both his arms out, one stake in one hand, and another stake in the opposite hand. He heard two grunts of pain, as the two vampires walked straight into the stakes, and then disintegrated. 

The leader growled with shock, as he watched his last two minions, be dusted by this stranger. 

Buffy opened her eyes and before she could even try to look at the mystery man, she snapped her head back and head butted the main vampire, well to mention, ONLY vampire left. Buffy did a roundhouse kick that sent the leader vampire towards the mystery man. Buffy turned around and watched her mystery man kick the leader in the chest, sending him back to Buffy. Buffy smirked, reached her hand behind her and grabbed the stake that was attached to the back of her shorts. She held the stake in her hand, no shake this time, she gripped onto the stake and lunged it into the leader's chest, she watched the leader disintegrate into dust. 

The mystery man didn't dare look up at whoever he had saved, or at least helped, he was too busy, holding onto his shoulder, which was bleeding. What possessed him to come to this hokey pokey town, and save a girl he didn't know, was beyond him. 

"Job well done, I say." Buffy said, smirking. She slid the wooden stake back into it's place at the back of her jean shorts, she then noticed her mystery man walking off, with an obvious limp in his walk. "Hey wait!" Buffy screamed after him. When he didn't turn around, she started to jog through the graveyard, trying to catch up with him. No way he was getting away, not until she saw who it was, he had saved her, she needed to see his face. "I said WAIT!" Buffy exploded. She grabbed his arm, but froze when she saw his face, once he turned around. _No, it can't be. _Buffy thought to herself, she dropped her hand, her eyes widening in shock. 

He stared at her, not knowing who she was at first, but then his eyes suddenly widened too, once the realization hit him. 

"Pike?" Buffy choked out in shock.   



	2. Hidden Secrets, First Meetings

A Blast From The Past 

By Dannette 

_Buffy is losing her emotional battle, but an unlikely savior will come, and it's someone from her past._

  
  
  
  
  


*** 

"Pike?" Buffy repeated her question, her eyes were shining with confusion and shock. Was it really Pike? LA Pike? Buffy hadn't seen him in ... god it had to be at least 8 years, yeah the least. She had been expelled from school after blowing up the school gym and then soon after that Buffy and her mom had moved away, and that was the last she had even seen or heard from Pike. But here he was standing in front of her, he looked just a tad bit older, but in so many ways, he was still Pike. Pike. God that name still sent shivers down her spine. He was still silent, his eyes holding a shocked look in them. Buffy wanted so badly to reach out and touch him, to just prove he was real or not, but she was frozen. What was he doing here? Why was he in Sunnydale? Why? 

Pike shook the cobwebs out of his head, his eyes finally retreating back to their normal size. The girl in him in some ways resembled _his _Buffy, but there were so many things, that didn't resemble her. Her hair wasn't as blonde as it used to be, but of course it had been 8 years since the last time they had seen each other, so of course things about Buffy would change. Buffy. He could still remember how she used to be the valley girl that had no cares, then he could remember her as the kick ass vampire slayer in the white prom dress, saving the day. He had long stopped thinking of her, after the first 2 years she was gone, it just seemed useless. He had to move on with his life, he couldn't dwell on Buffy Summers for the rest of his life, but here she was.   


_~*~ Flashback ~*~_

"Blow up the gym?" Buffy mused, her hair up in a bun as she stared at Pike, who was crouched down next to her, both of them hidden behind by bushes. "I'll get in trouble Pike. Blowing up the school gym, in the principle's mind ... is BAD." Buffy replied. 

Pike just shrugged. "Come on, how are you going to kill all of those vamps Buffy? You going in there and going to kill all of them? There has to be at least 30 or 40 of them. It's daylight, they can't leave, because if they do, they're toast. We blow up the school gym, they'll be dead. Unless you have a better plan, because if you do, enlighten me Buffy." Pike said, raising up his eyebrow. 

Buffy groaned. "Well, no, actually I don't." 

"Good, we go with my plan then." Pike said, with a grin. 

"It's dangerous!" Buffy nearly shouted. 

"And leaving those 30 or 40 vamps alive in the school gym, isn't dangerous Buffy?" Pike asked, questioningly. 

"Well, when you put it that way ... " Buffy said, sighing in defeat. 

_~*~ End of flashback ~*~_   


"Is it really you?" Pike asked, leaning forward, staring at Buffy. He still held onto his injured shoulder, but his concentration wasn't on his injury at all, it was completely on the young woman in front of him, that could possibly be Buffy Summers. But the question that posed, if this was Buffy, then why in the hell did she need him saving her? The real Buffy Summers could have staked all five of those vampires in less than a few seconds. Hell he wasn't that good of a fighter, after Buffy had moved away, he had stuck to helping LA, killing vamps and other evil things around. He even learned a few combat moves, but nothing big, just something to keep him alive. He had soon found about demons and such, and he needed more moves to keep himself alive, but Buffy was so much stronger than him, it just didn't make sense. If this was the real Buffy, she shouldn't have needed him saving her, it didn't make sense. 

"I might ask you the same thing." Buffy said in a low tone. "What are you doing here?" 

"How do I know you're, _you?_" Pike asked, in his usual Pike fashion. Ask a question with a question, now Buffy had taught him that. After Merrick died and they had the whole 'dance' event where the lead vampire and 'lefty' as Pike called him, had invaded the school and tried to get Buffy ... Buffy and Pike learned to ask questions first, then answer the prior questions after you get what you want. 

"Well how do I know you're, _you?_" Buffy asked the same question Pike did. 

"Well, who do you think I am?" Pike asked, as he began to circle around Buffy, still holding onto his shoulder. 

"Pike, too cool or rebellious to have a last name." Buffy snapped, her patience wearing thin. "Who was my first watcher?" 

"Merrick." Pike answered quickly. "Who was my best friend, turned into vampire?" Pike asked. 

"Benny." Buffy replied quickly, but then she felt a pang of sadness take her over. You would think after the whole 8 years since her exit from LA, she wouldn't think about the people that had died in LA, but seeing Pike again, brought it all back up. 

"It's really you," Pike said, his voice in a quiet tone, only one him and Buffy could hear. "So this is where they sent you?" Pike asked, not knowing how to react to anything. He had never in a million years ... thought he would be ... seeing her again. 

Buffy nodded, but then rolled her eyes. "I wasn't sent anywhere, we moved here." Buffy replied slowly. "I've lived in Sunnydale for 8 years Pike, ever since I was expelled from school, for blowing up the gym, which was _your _idea." Buffy replied, she watched him stand still. "What are you doing here Pike? In Sunnydale? What were you doing in the graveyard?" Buffy curiously asked. 

"Well I would ask you the same thing, but you're the Slayer, so yeah that makes sense." Pike said, his eyes shining. "Big things were happening in LA, serious things. I needed to get out of there, so I packed up all my stuff and jetted out of there as soon as I could. My car broke down, a few miles from here, I was trying to find a gas station. I think I got lost, and then I heard you scream." 

Buffy brushed a few strands of her blonde hair out of her eyes. "You're bleeding." Buffy said, touching Pike on the shoulder. 

"I'm fine," Pike said, looking at his shoulder. "Just a scratch." 

"A big one." Buffy retorted. "Come on, let me take you to my house, I'll get you fixed up. Then I'll have someone go get your car." 

Pike opened his mouth to refuse the offer, but when Buffy started walking, he just followed her without a second thought.   


*** 

"Nice place," Pike commented as he followed Buffy into the big house. His eyes scanned the whole house, his eyes stopped at a picture of Joyce and Buffy. Pike picked up the picture and stared at it, Buffy was smiling, a big wide smile. Pike brushed his fingers across the picture, he could hear Buffy rummaging through the bathroom, followed by a few mutters. "Are you okay?" He asked. 

"Oh fine --- " Buffy said, entering the living room, she froze when she saw Pike looking at a picture of her and her mom. 

"Where's your mom?" Pike asked, turning to Buffy. 

"Gone." Buffy answered, her eyes narrowing. "She died." Buffy replied in a soft tone, she walked over to Pike, and looked at the picture. "We were so happy in that picture, looking at it, you would never think ... that things ended up the way they did." 

"Natural cause?" Pike asked sympathetically. He put the picture down where it was before and stared at Buffy, there was such a sadness in her eyes, it made him want to hold her, but he didn't, he didn't even reach out to touch her. It had been too long, too long since they were together, too long since they even smiled at each other. He didn't want to cross a boundary. 

"Yeah." Buffy replied. 

"I'm sorry Buffy." Pike said in a soft tone, his eyes shining in genuine concern. Pike turned to the dresser of pictures, he stopped at a picture of Buffy with a few people he guessed were her friends. Pike picked up the picture and stared at it, there was a dark haired boy and a red headed girl, all three of them smiling. Pike stared at the picture, like it was a piece of art he didn't understand. 

"That's Xander and Willow, they're my best friends." Buffy replied, holding onto the first aid kit. She watched Pike, how he moved, how his eyes seemed to shine whenever he concentrated deeply on one thing. Buffy let out a deep breath, she remembered the last time they were in the same house together, it was 8 years ago, and even then he had sent butterflies in her stomach. 

"That must be nice." Pike muttered underneath his breath, he shook his head and put the picture down. He turned around and stared at Buffy, she was holding onto the first aid kit tightly, her pinkish lips puckering slightly. "To have best friends." Pike replied, to his prior statement, when Buffy looked at him questioningly, Pike just shrugged. He then winced inwardly when he felt his left shoulder start to burn painfully, reminding him of his injury. During the fight his left shoulder had gotten sliced open pretty badly. 

"Come into the kitchen, we need to patch that up." Buffy replied, she felt a stab of curiosity flow through her body because of Pike's earlier comments, but right now she needed to see how bad his shoulder was. Buffy walked into the kitchen, smiling softly to herself when she heard Pike following her. Buffy flipped the kitchen light on and turned to face Pike, but she moved too quickly and she bumped into Pike. "Sorry." Buffy said nervously, god he felt so warm, it seemed like she hadn't felt warmth near her for so long. "Sit down over there." Buffy replied, she watched Pike take a seat with a cautious look in her eyes. "Okay, let me see." 

Pike relaxed in the wooden chair, he slipped the leather jacket off, just revealing a white tanktop. He put the semi bloody jacket on the table, he could feel Buffy kneeling down next to him, so she was eye level with his left shoulder. Pike looked down at her, her blonde hair was relaxing around her face neatly, her eyes were narrowed at his shoulder. "How bad is it?" Pike asked, breaking whatever silence that was between him and Buffy. It felt so awkward, this was the exact reason why he didn't want to come to her house. 

"Bad," Buffy mused. She brought up her hand and barely touched the deep gash, she winced when she felt Pike stiffen underneath her touch. It struck her as odd ... he stiffened, not winced or even pulled away in pain; he had to be in pain, the gash was so deep, and it was still bleeding heavily. Buffy looked up at Pike, her eyes softening, she felt as if he was hiding something. She knew all about that, hiding things, hiding the pain she was feeling, and she saw a resemblance of her in Pike's eyes, and that hurt. "Those vamps got you pretty bad, you're still bleeding, but I think if I get this bandaged, it might stop the bleeding, but I'm no doc." 

"It's not like we can exactly go to the hospital Buffy. Cause of injury? A pack of vampires did it sir." Pike replied, rolling his eyes. "Look, I'll be fine, just bandage me up, and I'll be on my way." Pike snapped, his eyes narrowing and also hiding the story they were trying to tell Buffy, a girl he once could tell anything, but that was such a long time ago. 8 years had passed, and LA was a rough and supernatural city, and a lot of pain had been bestowed upon him, and that would be his secret, no one needed to know. 

Buffy nodded, she opened the first aid kit out and started to work on Pike's shoulder. "I want to thank you Pike, for what you did. You saved me, I wasn't looking for a fight, I was just trying to clear my mind, and without you I think ... no, I know, I would have been in a whole lot of trouble." Buffy replied, trying to talk to Pike, to get him to talk to her back, while she bandaged him up. "And you know Pike, you can stay here for the night. It's not like there are a lot of places in Sunnydale you can stay in, and you're obviously not getting anywhere until the morning, probably not even then, you have to get your car fixed." Buffy stated delicately. 

"No, it's okay." Pike protested. 

"We're old friends Pike," Buffy replied, taping the cloth to Pike's shoulder. "Let's act like it. Sure it's been a long time, but you're a friend, and you shouldn't have to stay in some dingy hotel room, you can stay here. There's a guest room, actually a few of them, you can take one of them. I wouldn't trust anyone to be alone with an injury like that, you might get hurt, at least further hurt." 

Pike sighed, at least some things about Buffy stayed the same, she would never give up on an argument. "Sure, whatever." 

"So, what have you been up to all these years?" Buffy asked, standing up. She walked over to the kitchen and opened the refrigerator door and pulled out two cans of soda. "You've been in LA this whole time? The whole 8 years? You never left?" 

Pike brought up both of his hands and rubbed his face gingerly, he winced a bit at the pain, but pushed it to the side. "Yeah," Pike said slowly. "I always wanted to leave, and after you got expelled and moved away, it seemed like the perfect time, you know? But it never really happened, I taught myself how to fight, to protect myself. Over the years I fought, helped some people, but mostly just fought to save myself. But recently bad things have been going down in LA, I decided to finally just jet out of there, while I still could. Any smart person would leave that city in a heartbeat ... I had no one there, so I just left, packed up everything and left." 

Buffy shut the refrigerator door, she walked back over to the kitchen table and sat down next to Pike, she slid a can of soda over to Pike. "I thought you would have been out of LA, the first chance you could get." Buffy stated, taking a sip of her soda. 

Pike merely shrugged. "What happened back in the graveyard Buffy? Since when do you need me saving you? I've seen you fight, and that was 8 years ago, I bet your fighting abilities have sky rocketed, and yet you were just letting those vampires attack you. It looked like you just froze out there, like you had no will to fight. That's not you." Pike said, staring at Buffy. 

"You don't even know me anymore Pike." Buffy snapped. "You don't know about the sacrifices I had to make." Buffy replied, standing up, she walked over to the kitchen sink, and stared into the sink with a soft but scared look in her eyes. Why did Pike always have to ask questions that always seemed to pierce straight into her heart and right into her soul? That was Pike. 

Pike pushed himself up, he walked over to Buffy and stood behind her. "I know all about sacrifices Buffy. Sure I don't know which ones you had to make, but I know about sacrifices. I've been hurt, I've been pulled down, I've felt like I couldn't go on. It hurts yeah, but I never gave up, not like you, I saw you in the graveyard. You just laid there, you didn't fight back, until a few seconds before you could have possibly been killed, you could have died. You're right, I don't know you anymore, it's been such a long time Buffy. Too long, but I know about fighting, I know about sacrifices, and I know about wanting to give up, wanting it all to end." 

Buffy turned around and stared at Pike. "Do you really Pike? Tell me about it." 

Pike turned his face away from Buffy. "I'll take the couch." Pike replied, he brushed past Buffy slightly, walking out of the kitchen.   


*** 

Dawn pushed open the door to the Summers' residence slowly and quietly, in case Buffy had fallen asleep watching a movie, she didn't want wake her big sister up. Dawn had been at the magic shop, spending some time with Xander and Anya. But Dawn had finally given up on waiting for Buffy to come up, it was nearly 11 pm, and no word from Buffy. Dawn was worried, Buffy never acted like this before, Dawn wanted her big sister back, but Buffy was so ... distant, quiet, fidgety around everyone. Dawn sighed, she walked inside the house, she shut the door behind her, she winced at the slamming of the door. Dawn shook her head and went to take off her coat, but she froze when saw a young man, in a white tanktop, his shoulder bandaged up, and blue jeans sitting up on the couch, with a crossbow aimed right at Dawn's chest. Dawn could feel her heart pounding in her chest. "Who are you?" 

Pike raised up his eyebrow, keeping the crossbow in place. "Who are YOU?" Pike asked. 

"Hey, I asked the question first." Dawn protested, but then she groaned when she realized she was arguing with an armed man. 

"Answer the question, or this goes straight through your chest." Pike said, standing up, keeping the crossbow in place. 

"I'm Dawn." Dawn answered with a shaky voice. 

"Dawn who?" Pike questioned, he walked over to Dawn and reached into her jacket, he felt her stiffen against him. He pulled out a wallet, he started rummaging through the wallet, trying to find an ID. "You have a last name Dawn?" Pike questioned once more. 

"Summers." Dawn answered. "Dawn Summers."   



	3. Truths Revealed

A Blast From The Past 

By Dannette 

_Buffy is losing her emotional battle, but an unlikely savior will come, and it's someone from her past._

  
  
  
  


*** 

Pike's eyes seemed to widen a bit, _Dawn Summers? Did that mean? _Pike stared at Dawn's image, while he tried to decide to believe her or not. Dawn Summers? Was she Buffy's ... Pike didn't even want to think about it. At least he knew she wasn't a vampire, although he should have known that if she was, she wouldn't have been able to get into the house. "Dawn Summers?" He asked. 

Dawn nodded shakily. "W-who are you?" Dawn asked. 

"Pike." Pike said, lowering the crossbow, he threw it to the couch and handed Dawn back her wallet. "You live here?" Pike asked, watching Dawn carefully, she still looked freaked. If he wasn't in such a somber mood, he would be laughing his ass off. He must have scared the living daylights out of the poor girl ... before Pike could react, he was pummeled down to the ground. 

"Run Dawn! Go get Buffy!" Xander screamed, pinning Pike's arms down, so Pike couldn't move. 

Dawn nodded and ran up the stairs to Buffy's room, but a part of her felt something tingle at the name Pike, the name didn't sound like a name of an enemy, and plus ... once she told him her name, he put the crossbow down. But Dawn was too freaked right now, she just ran up the stairs, and trampled over to Buffy's room. "BUFFY!" She screamed, running into the room in a frenzy. 

Buffy nearly fell out of the bed, when suddenly her room was filled with Dawn's screaming, her frantic screaming. Buffy slipped out of the bed, and stared at Dawn concerned. "What's wrong Dawn?" Buffy asked. Buffy put her hands on Dawn's shoulders, trying to calm down her little sister. "Ssh, calm down Dawn, start from the beginning." Buffy said calmly, through her sleepiness. 

"This guy like totally tried to kill me, and now Xander has him pinned downstairs Buffy," Dawn started, but stopped when she saw the look on Buffy's face. Buffy looked like Xander had just done the most idiotic thing in all time, this only fed Dawn's curiosity. 

"Oh my god, Pike." Buffy stated, she ran out of her room and down the stairs, with Dawn closely behind. "Xander, stop!" Buffy screamed, skidding into the living room. "Stop he's injured, stop." Buffy replied, she gently pushed Xander off of Pike, she then kneeled down next to Pike. "Are you okay?" She asked gently, she helped Pike up, concerned deeply for Pike. 

"Oh yeah, sure, just fine. Geek boy over here completely pummeled me, do your best friends usually do this to your guests?" Pike asked, wincing, as he felt the pain in his shoulder come back. Pike first tried to struggle against Buffy's help, but in the end, he gave up, and wrapped his injured arm around Buffy's neck and let her guide him over to the couch. "This is WHY I didn't want to stay here." Pike snapped, he watched Buffy pushed the crossbow off of the couch and help him down on it, Pike groaned in pain. 

Dawn stared at Xander questioningly. 

"Okay Buff, explanation?" Xander asked, raising up his eyebrow. "This guy was just about to kill Dawn, and you help him?" 

"I wasn't try to kill her," Pike muttered, holding his shoulder in pain. "I thought she was a vampire or something, I was just keeping her in place, until I could figure out who she was. And who the hell do you think you are? Superman or something? Jumping in and pummeling me down to the ground, provided that I didn't give the best first impression, but I really think that I don't like you." 

"Pike is an old friend," Buffy replied, turning to Xander and Dawn. "From LA. I was attacked in the graveyard tonight by a pack of vampires, Pike came to my rescue. Seems his car broke down a few miles away from the graveyard, he was trying to find a gas station and got lost, he heard me scream, and saved me." Buffy stated, she looked between Xander and Dawn. "He's a good guy, I invited him to stay the night, because he's injured." Buffy pointed out, looking pointedly at Xander. "Probably more now." 

Xander bit down on his lip. "I thought he was trying to kill Dawn. You just have some weird stranger in your house, he's pointing a crossbow at Dawn, what do you think I'm supposed to do? Maybe he should have told us, he was a friend of yours." 

"When was I supposed to do that? When you were pummeling me down to the ground, and pinning my arms to the ground?" Pike asked, a bit irritable at the pounding pain in his shoulder. Granted he knew he must look like some sort of danger to Dawn and Xander, he just didn't have the logic in his body at the moment to be nice, that pummel hurt like hell, screw being nice. 

"Maybe I should go? Anya, will be waiting for me." Xander replied, staring at Pike cautiously, he didn't trust the guy ... a friend of Buffy's or not. He got the wiggins or whatever they were calling them nowadays whenever he looked at Pike, that wasn't good. 

"Yeah, go." Buffy replied, smiling softly. "I'll fill you guys in more in the morning." 

Xander nodded and walked out of the house. 

"Pike," Buffy started. "Want to come into the kitchen? I'll make you something to drink, you're sure as hell going to need it. I got something to tell you, Dawn you should come too, it's about you." Buffy said, closing her eyes,_ explanation time,_ she thought.   


*** 

Dawn sat at the kitchen table, her cup of hot chocolate neatly in between her hands. She watched Pike, now that she knew he wasn't exactly a bad guy, she felt a little more comfortable around him. She stared at his face, trying to remember a memory of him. She had memories of everybody else in Buffy's life, but this Pike guy didn't ring a bell to her, which scared her a bit. She didn't know how to react around him, since she didn't have any memories of him, and she knew he didn't know who/what she was either. 

"Okay, I'll explain who Pike is first, since you don't know him Dawn. Pike is a really good friend, we met in LA. Dawn, back in LA, before I knew I was a slayer, me and Pike weren't all that close. Actually we were complete opposites," Buffy started to explain, holding her cup of black coffee in her shaking hands. "But then my first watcher, Merrick, told me how I was a Vampire Slayer." 

"I still don't see where Pike fits in all of this." Dawn interrupted. 

Buffy looked at Pike. 

"My best friend, Benny, he was killed by a vampire. He came to my window, I guess shortly after he was sired or whatever, and when I found out what he was, I was going to ditch town." Pike started to explain. "But on the way out, a few vampires attacked my car, I crashed into a tree. I got out of the car and the vampires attacked me, Buffy saved me." Pike answered, rubbing his face. 

Buffy nodded. "After that ... Pike helped me. On the night of this big dance, the lead vampire, big bad guy all around, wanted me, seems he has had all of my ancestors. So he showed up with a bunch of his minions or whatnot, and attacked the school. To make a long story short, I killed the lead vampire, saved the day and danced with Pike. A month or so after that, a big gang of vampires invaded the high school gym, there were about 40 of them, and no way to kill all of them before they harmed anybody." 

"How did you get rid of them?" Dawn questioned, blowing a few strands out of her face, she stared at Pike out of the corner of her eyes. He mesmerized her, there was something about his eyes, they were so deep, and they told a hidden story, he didn't want to be told. She could see how he tried to block the story that was practically trying to pour itself out of his deep eyes. 

"We blew up the gym." Pike answered. 

"That was WHY you blew up the gym Buffy?" Dawn exploded, with such excitement in her voice. "How cool!" 

Pike smirked. 

Buffy didn't find the humor in anything, she just sighed and then turned to Pike. "Okay now I have to explain something to you. See this is going to sound weird, but you have to believe me okay? I know this wouldn't be believable, but Dawn is my sister." 

Pike looked at Buffy oddly. "Dawn is your sister?" Pike asked. "I'm finding this hard to believe, I know we haven't seen each other in 8 years Buffy, but looking at Dawn, she would have at least been a few years old, back when you lived in LA. Or did she live with your dad or something? No that still doesn't make sense." Pike mused, knitting his eyebrows in puzzlement and confusion. 

Dawn bit down on her lip. 

"I'm not exactly Buffy's sister." Dawn spoke up. 

"Not chronically, but when it comes down to the gritty facts, Dawn you're my sister. The monks, they were protecting her, she's called The Key. They put her into my family, so I could protect her, since I'm the Slayer and all. They created memories, it's like we all already knew who she was, we could remember her like she had been with us since the beginning. To make a VERY long story short Pike, I found about Dawn, but don't mistake this ... she IS my sister. I love her, and everything about her is a Summers." 

Dawn smiled up at Buffy. 

Pike stood up, he looked outside the kitchen window. His eyes narrowed in concentration, he didn't know what to say. How could he react to the news Buffy just gave him, this was just one surprise after another. The Key. Sister. Dawn. Pike put his hands on the edge of the sink, as he tried to come up with a proper reaction. He turned around and stared at Dawn, Buffy was right ... Dawn was in so many ways her sister, so what if they weren't real blood sisters? By looking at them Pike could see the love they both shared. "Well I only got one thing to say." Pike said, he stared at Dawn. "Sorry about trying to kill you," he said with a small smile. 

Buffy smiled, her eyes shining as she stared at Pike.   


*** 

Pike stood at the entry of the door, his eyes narrowed as he stared at Buffy, she was sitting on the porch steps, her head bowed down. Pike frowned, he knew she was hiding something, and obviously it wasn't the whole Dawn thing. Just by looking at Buffy, Pike could see that there was a lot of pain she was hiding, and maybe not just from him, maybe from her friends as well. Pike walked out of the house, shutting the door behind him slowly, he started walking towards Buffy, when he heard the door click shut. Pike waltzed over to Buffy, he sat down on the porch steps next to her, he stared at the side of her face for a few seconds before he looked down at his own hands. Pike was silent for a long time, trying to find something to say to her, _god it's been too long_, Pike thought. 

"My sister likes you," Buffy said softly, breaking the silence. "She has officially given up on her crush on Xander, you're her next mission." Buffy replied. She brought her head up and stared at Pike, she shrugged, and brushed the strands of her blonde hair out of her eyes. "You took it rather well, when I found out, I thought she was some sort of demon at first, you didn't even freak." 

Pike looked at Buffy. "Are you really that desperate to duck a conversation with me?" Pike asked. 

Buffy didn't falter, she just remained staring at Pike. "What do you mean?" She asked, pretending she had no idea what Pike was assuming. But she knew. She could never lie to Pike, it was like he could look at her, just a brief glance and he would be able to know everything that was wrong with her. Pike in so many ways was like Angel, they were both rebels, both two beings in this world just trying to survive, both knew how to affect in her the biggest ways. But there were so many things Angel never had that Pike had. Angel was a vampire with a soul fighting against the evil things in life to get amends, but Pike was human ... just trying to live through another day. He wasn't a vampire with a soul, or a witch, or a Slayer ... he was just a loner, asking to see the sunlight of tomorrow. Just a loner, yet standing out from the crowd, his eyes holding a story that he never let anyone see. 

"I think you know what I mean." Pike answered. "Come on Buffy, lay it all on me. No one knows where you or I'm going to be tomorrow, I could be out of Sunnydale tomorrow and never return; you may never see or hear from me again Buffy, at least give me one night. Give me tonight to look into your soul, show me your pain. I don't want to go another eight years not knowing what's going on inside your heart and soul. I'm not going to flinch away from you, I'm not going to be running off in fear once you bare your soul to me. I've been through pain too, and tonight ... if tonight is the only night we have, I'll stand by you, until the sun rises. I just want to know what's killing you inside. I just want to know why you're in so much pain, why you look you're so little, so lonely, so scared. I just want to know you again, even if it is only for tonight, show me your pain, show it all to me ... show me the ugly part of you. I'm not scared to see the ugliness in your soul, I'm not afraid to see the darkness you hold inside your body, I'm not afraid of you." 

Buffy tried to keep a straight face, but suddenly her face crumbled in front of Pike. "It's just too hard." Buffy whispered, her voice cracking in emotion. She bit back the tears, she wringed her hands together, looking down at them, trying not to look at Pike. "Life, everything. I thought I had it all under control, I thought nothing could take me down. I was proven wrong. Now I feel all this pain inside of me and it won't go away, and I just want them all to go away. I don't want my friends, my sister, even my heart. I died Pike. To save the world, I took the fall for Dawn, and it was just supposed to be over. I was in heaven, it was so beautiful there Pike, so tranquil, so peaceful ... and then I was yanked away from it. My friends brought me back to life, but they tore me away from my peace of mind, they tore me away from heaven. There's all this screaming, and I'm the only who can hear it, and I'm so scared. I'm so scared that I'm never going to get my sanity back, I'm so scared that nothing is going to be good again. How do you live when you're already dead? How do you move on? How do you walk through your pain, when you can hardly even walk?" Buffy asked, the tears leaking out of her eyes. "You're right, I was about to give up. I didn't care Pike, I didn't care about death, I was going to let them kill me ... and then out of nowhere you walked into my life and you saved me. I fought, I fought for you, but I'm so scared." 

Pike knitted his eyebrows in pain as he heard the words flowing out of Buffy's mouth. Pike closed his eyes, there was a long silence, but then the shuffling of Pike's clothes as he scooted closer to Buffy could be heard. "Fear. It's inside of all of us Buffy, it makes us human, it makes us alive. You're scared Buffy, well so is everyone else. Everyone one is scared of something, that is what makes us feel. We feel things, things deep inside of our bodies, they're called emotions." Pike replied softly. 

Buffy shook her head, her head still bowed down. "I don't want to feel anything anymore. I don't want to feel any sort of emotion, don't you understand? I just want to give up, give it all up because it's so hard. You don't know, understand what I'm feeling." 

Pike laughed harshly, not a laugh full of humor, but one full of sadness. "Are you so sure about that Buffy? Are you so sure that I don't know how it is to feel like I'm dead inside? Are you sure that I don't break inside? I feel pain okay? I feel the wrath of pain, loneliness and everything else. It hurts, hurts so much. Sometimes I just wanted to give up, give up on fighting, give up on trying to live ... because it got too hard, too hard for me ... I just wanted to scream, but the words ... they never come out. You have friends Buffy, you're lucky. I'm all alone in this world, my best friend ... he's been dead for eight years Buffy, and I wish it was me." 

Buffy looked up, her eyes red from the tears, a sob tremored through her body as she stared at Pike. 

"I wish everything would just end, I wish that night in the school gym, it was me. Because if it had been me, all of this would be over. All of this endless pain, wouldn't be so endless anymore. I've loved after you Buffy, it's been eight years, it's expected. You want to know about my pain Buffy? You want to hear about what has pulled me down? What sacrifice I had to make? You asked me to tell you that earlier tonight, well I'll tell you now. I was married." Pike said, he reached into his pants pocket and pulled out a gold wedding ring. "Her name was Clarice, she wasn't you ... but I had to move on, I had to love again, you were never coming back, I had to face that and grow up. She knew about vampires and demons and all that, so there were no secrets between us, and god I loved her so much, you know? So damn much. One night, we were attacked by a group of demons, I tried to fight them off, but there were too many. There was a little girl, one of the demons had, there was this sacrificial ritual, and they were going to kill the poor little girl. I saw a demon heading towards Clarice, but then I turned my head and saw one of the stronger demons performing the ritual on the little girl, she was probably only six or seven. I saved the little girl, but it caused me to lose Clarice, she was killed. I knew I couldn't save them both, and I made a choice, I had to save the little girl, she was just so young ... " Pike said, holding in the tears. 

Buffy widened her eyes, her bottom lip quivering. "Oh god Pike ... " Buffy mumbled. 

"So you see, I know all about sacrifices Buffy. I know all about pain, I know about fear and hatred and self-loathing, I know all about wanting to give up, I know how it is to just want all the pain to end. I almost gave up, so many times, but in the end I kept fighting because I know Clarice wouldn't want her death to be in vain. That was why I left LA, I left LA because I couldn't stand being in that damned city one more minute. I was ready to just run, run for the rest of my life, but then my car broke down. I walked for hours, with no desire to do anything, but then I heard you scream. Your scream pierced my ears, and it snapped something inside of me." Pike replied, he wiped his tears furiously. "Pain, it hurts Buffy, I know. You were torn away from something so peaceful, I know the feeling. But you can't give up, your friends love you, you have a sister ... you have a lot going for you, unlike me, I have nothing." 

"You have me." Buffy cried, she leaned forward and crushed her body against Pike's, she wrapped her arms around his body, as the sobs racked through her body. She let all her emotions out, she needed Pike, as much as he needed her. Buffy closed her eyes when she felt Pike hug her back, she felt something she hadn't felt in a long time. The warmth of another's touch. Before everyone's touches felt blank to her, but Pike seemed to reach deep inside of her and pushed away the cold, and make it semi-warm again. 

Pike bowed his head down, his eyes closed as he hugged Buffy back. 

Dawn stood at the doorway to the Summers' residence and stared at the scene in front of her with a sad look in her eyes. She wanted to cry, to cry for her sister, and to cry for Pike. She had come out to ask them what they were doing, but she had become silent when she heard Pike pushing Buffy to tell him what was wrong, and now that Dawn knew ... she wanted to cry a river.   



	4. Boundaries Crossed

A Blast From The Past 

By Dannette 

_Buffy is losing her emotional battle, but an unlikely savior will come, and it's someone from her past._

  
  
  
  


*** 

"Giles? Xander? Willow?" Buffy asked, slowly walking into the magic shop, she went to walk down the steps, to walk further into the shop, but she rolled her eyes and turned around. "Pike, come on." Buffy said, she turned back around and walked down the three carpeted steps. She took off her leather jacket and placed it on one of the chairs, she stared at the magic shop, like she hadn't been there in days. Buffy watched from the corner of her eyes as Pike brushed past her and looked through some of the books. 

"101 ways to defeat your stereo typical demon." Pike mused, smirking to himself. 

Buffy whirled around. "What?" She asked, Buffy walked over to Pike and read the title of the book and rolled her eyes. 

"I really can't believe you just fell for that. What? In Sunnydale, you people believe anything a person says?" Pike asked. He smirked, and put the book back into the bookcase, he continued to look around the magic shop with an interested look in his eyes. He had been to a lot of magic shops in LA, but this one was quite different, it had a different feeling to it. "So where's all your friends?" Pike asked, turning to Buffy. "I'm not going to get pummeled again, am I?" Pike asked, raising up his eyebrow. 

Buffy smirked, and shook her head abruptly. She felt a weight being lifted off from her shoulders, granted that it was just last night that she had opened up to Pike, but she felt better. Maybe she had been over due for a talk, or maybe it was the fact that it was Pike. Pike was different from everybody else, she felt connected to him in so many ways, more connected to him than some of her other friends. It wasn't anything personal, but it was just because ... it's Pike. Pike, who understood the meaning of sacrifices. 

"Who's he?" 

Buffy looked away from Pike and smiled briefly when she saw Anya emerge from the back room. "Hey Anya, this is my friend." 

"Who is he?" Anya asked again. "Xander who is he?" Anya asked, once Xander emerged out of the back room and stood by her side. "I don't know him, I didn't think Buffy had any friends besides us. Who is he?" Anya kept asking questions. 

"Pike." Pike answered, inserting a piece of gum in his mouth. "And you would be the guy that pummeled me last night, did I ever thank you for that?" Pike asked sarcastically, narrowing his eyes at Xander who was staring at him, with a skeptical look in his eyes. "You really did wonders to my already injured shoulder." Pike snapped, he walked over to the counter and smiled at Anya. "Old friend of Buffy's, from LA, and you are?" Pike asked, reaching out his hand, for Anya to shake, he smiled at Xander. 

"Anya." Anya said, shaking his hand. "You pummeled him Xander? Why?" Anya asked. 

Buffy smirked, she walked over to the counter and shot a look at Xander and then looked at Pike. "It was just a big misunderstanding, right Pike? Pike, Xander and Dawn got their wires crossed, everything is fine now though. So just drop it okay, Pike?" Buffy asked, she locked her arm with his and led him away from the counter. "Come with me to the back room, I want you to meet Giles and Willow." Buffy replied, smiling up at Pike, her smile widened a bit when Pike smiled back. 

"Giles? He the new watcher?" Pike asked, walking into the back room with Buffy. 

"He knows you're the Slayer?" Anya asked. 

Xander followed Buffy and Pike silently, Xander still didn't trust Pike. Xander didn't care that Pike was a friend of Buffy's, until Pike proved that he could be trusted, there was no way in hell Xander was going to play nice. Xander had met too many people who pretended to be Buffy's friends who then ended up trying to kill her, Xander was prepared this time. But Xander would have to be blind not to see the slight change in Buffy today. There was something different about her, she didn't seem to be so gloomy. 

Buffy nodded. "Pike was one of the first two people that knew I was the Slayer." Buffy answered, she tugged on Pike's arm once they approached Giles and Willow who were researching. "Giles, Willow, I want you guys to meet Pike." Buffy replied. 

Willow looked up and stared at Pike. He was donned in a black t-shirt, black leather jacket, and blue jeans. Willow didn't recognize him from any of Buffy's friends outside their little circle, actually Willow didn't even recognize him as a resident of Sunnydale. Willow shut the book she was reading, pushed it to the side and stood up, Pike was a tad bit taller than her, which made him even more intimidating. Willow looked to the side where Xander was, she frowned when Xander looked like he wasn't that happy at the appearance of this Pike person. "Hi Pike, I'm Willow." Willow said, shaking hands with Pike. "Uh, you live in Sunnydale?" She asked. 

"No, car broke down." Pike answered. 

Giles stood up as well, he stared at Pike, who had his arm around Buffy's neck. Giles removed his glasses, he cleaned them briefly, put them back on and smiled at Pike. "Why, hello Pike. I'm Giles." Giles replied, reaching his hand out. "How do you know Buffy?" 

"LA." Pike answered, shaking Giles' hand. "We're friends from her time in LA, you know before she decided to blow up the gym and all. So you're the watcher, right?" Pike asked, he made a face when Buffy hit him. "Hey!" Pike mock whined. 

"It was your idea, idiot. You told me that it was the easiest way to take them all out." Buffy answered. 

"I'm a guy, I like explosions." 

Giles stared at Pike, examing the young man in front of him. It was obvious Pike had a rebellious sort of attitude, and by the way his arm was draped around Buffy's neck, it was shown that he had a protectiveness towards Buffy, friendship or not. But as Giles look deeper into the young man, he saw an inner turmoil, a struggle, a constant battle, much like Buffy. "Well, I'm not her lawful watcher. I was fired a while back, on Buffy's 18th birthday, because they believed me to be too personal." Giles replied calmly. 

Pike nodded, he started to feel a bit uncomfortable under all the stares of the group he was getting.   


*** 

"I'm sorry if I don't buy the whole 'my car broke down, got lost, and then heard you scream' story he's feeding Buffy. Buffy hasn't even seen this guy in what, eight years? And out of the blue he shows up, his car conveniently breaking down in the same town Buffy lives in? And he just happens to stroll into the graveyard and save Buffy, right before she's vamp food? It just seems too convenient." Xander snapped, sitting next to Anya. Along with him and Anya, there sat Willow and Giles; Buffy and Pike were out with Dawn, who seemed to take akin to Pike. "And what I find is weird, is that last night he nearly kills Dawn, and now she's best friends with him? I'm sorry, but where did this guy come from? He looks like he's a toss up between Spike and Angel." 

Anya shrugged. "He seemed nice, and boy do you see his butt? What I wouldn't do to ... " Anya stopped and smiled at Xander. "Of course I love your butt better Xander, his butt is nowhere near yours." Anya said, kissing Xander on the lips quickly. 

"Giles you agree with me on this one right? I mean doesn't he look like he came out from a B horror movie? Night of the living dead or something? I just find it all too convenient that he's coming into Buffy's life after all these years they've been separated." 

Giles sighed, rubbing his eyes gingerly. "Like Buffy said, he saved her life." 

"Yeah, that's just a ploy. We've seen guys like this, they pretend like they're Buffy's best friends but end up being some guy who wants to be a vampire, or someone working for some vampire pack, trying to bring down Buffy." Xander replied bitterly. 

"They seemed awfully close Xander," Willow finally entered the conversation. "And Dawn is not some trusting little girl, she obviously has a reason for being so ... trusting of Pike. We don't know his background Xander, and I think you're just judging him wrongly." 

"So we find his background. His name is Pike, how many Pikes are there in LA?" Xander questioned. "Get on that jiffy piece of technology you call a laptop Will, and find out what we need to know about this guy. This isn't invading privacy, this is just looking out for Buff. She's really ... emotional right now? Especially after ... you know, we just need to look out for her." 

Giles sighed, stood up and walked out of the room, he would be no part of this. 

Willow bit down on her lip, she didn't want to do this, but Xander did have a point. They should just check up on his background, just in case, he was a danger, to just be on the safe side. "Okay." Willow replied, she flipped her laptop open, clicked on the AOL icon which was on her desktop and connected to the internet. But as she started to search on Pike, she felt an uneasy feeling enter her body, this was wrong. They shouldn't be doing this, this was being unfair and invading Pike's privacy, but Xander was relentless. 

Anya picked up a magazine and started flipping through the pages. "When this comes back and bites you in the ass Xander, honey I'll be praying for you, that Pike doesn't come around with a battle axe, ready to chop off your head." Anya replied, busily engrossed in her magazine, that she seemed to not realize the grossed out looks on Xander and Willow's face, she just kept on reading. 

Xander shrugged. "We're doing this for the safety of Buffy, Dawn and the rest of us." Xander assured the two ladies.   


*** 

"I'm sorry." Dawn said, as her and Pike stood in line at the fast food restraunt, Buffy was at some shoe store, getting a new pair of tennis shoes, so it just left Dawn and Pike alone. "I overheard your conversation with Buffy last night, about Clarice." Dawn said. 

Pike looked to Dawn and frowned. "You did?" He asked, he shook his head. "It happened a while back, I'm over it." 

"You don't look over it." Dawn interrupted. "I'm no therapist or anything, but you look really sad. Your eyes, you look really sad. It must have killed you to have to make that choice, to choose between your wife and the little girl. I don't know if I could have made the right choice if I was in your shoes, I would want to be selfish and save the one I loved." Dawn stated, slowly and softly. 

"Is that why you're sorry Dawn?" Pike asked. 

"Yeah," Dawn started. 

"Don't be sorry Dawn." Pike snapped. "Don't be sorry for me, don't be sorry for anything you'll do in the future, don't be sorry for anything. Sorry doesn't get you anywhere, it just gets you a whole lot of wasted breath. I've heard enough sorries over the years, even before I was with Clarice, I've heard too many say I'm sorry to me. Sorry is completely over-rated. Dawn, I made a choice that night ... and deep down it was the right one, but if I had to do it again, I'm not sure I could pick the right one. Clarice, I loved her deeply, and I lost her, and for the longest time, I was bitter and harsh, and I just wanted it all to end. Never be sorry Dawn." 

"But I am, for what you lost." Dawn replied. 

Pike sighed, not a sigh of annoyance, just a sigh, a long shuddering sigh. "Don't be sorry. Sorry is just a word Dawn, it's just a word. Like blood is just a fluid in our body, or how pain or fear is just an emotion. When it comes down to it Dawn, all the sorries in the world, aren't going to be what saves us. When it comes down to it, what saves us, are each other, not the 'I'm sorry for your lost'." 

Dawn stared at Pike, she let a small smile play with her lips. Pike was unlike anyone else she ever met, he seemed so wise at times. Sure Dawn hadn't gotten the best first meeting with Pike, but she felt like she could trust him. After all, he was the one that got Buffy to partially open up, Dawn had prayed so hard that Buffy would talk to one of them, but it wasn't until Pike, that Dawn's prays came into a reality. Pike was this savior, he just waltzed in their lives, 24 hours ago, and he was already saving them. 

"What?" Pike asked. 

"Do you love my sister?" Dawn asked. 

Pike smirked, then smiled softly. "Love is over-rated Dawn." Pike replied, he was quiet for a long time, he could sense the disappointment that Dawn held, he heaved a sigh. "But yeah, if I had to pick a word for it, I would say love summed it up." 

Dawn grinned. 

Buffy stood in the far background, not being able to hear what was being said, but the image she was receiving was enough to make her smile. Pike and her sister. Dawn and Pike. Bonding. Talking. Whatever. It was a sight, she definitely wanted to see again. Buffy held the plastic bag that held her new shoes in, across her chest, as she continued to stare at the talking Pike and Dawn.   


*** 

"He was married." Willow replied, staring at the article that they had printed out from the main computer in the back room, which belonged to Giles. "Clarice Johnson. They lived in a small apartment in mid-town Los Angeles. They were married for about a year, almost a year. But Clarice was brutally killed. Police said it was a mugging. A young girl, by the name of Amy O'Haire was involved. She was supposedly kidnapped by a bunch of 'nethandrals', and Pike and Clarice got involved. Pike saved Amy from getting hurt, but Clarice was killed in the process." Willow said, her eyes holding a sad look. "There is this article on this site, paranormal happenings. Seems the 'nethandrals' weren't human at all, they were a pack of Shakira demons, they kidnapped Amy to sacrifice to their spiritual god, which happened to some sort species figuratively related to a serpent, a linked species of the snake." Willow continued to read, she held the various pages of articles in her hands. "On the autopsy report for Clarice, there were three unidentifiable scratches across Clarice's abdomen, the cuts were very deeply, she had no chance of living the injuries." 

"How long ago was this?" Xander questioned. "Maybe he's trying to find a way to bring Clarice back to life." Xander replied, he winced when he saw Willow stare at him angrily. "What? That could possibly be why he's back. Will, we don't even know this guy. All we know is that his wife was brutally murdered and now he shows up, wanting to play nice to Buffy, who's a Slayer?" 

Willow shook her head. "It's been almost a year since her murder." 

"Anything else on him?" Xander asked, ignoring the look Anya was giving him. 

"Yeah, something way back in 1992, it has something to do with Buffy. They were accused of the explosion of a LA high school gym. Pike briefly was jailed, a few weeks, but eventually got off, because he was 17 at the time. He got community service, but after he served his probation time, he seemed to disappear off the records, no more trouble with police, until a few years later, 1995. A friend of his, or at least an acquaintance, Louis Peters, was killed in a fire started by Pike. Then he disappeared off the records again, until 2001 ... just a few months ago, when his wife was killed. That's all on him." Willow announced. 

"I think this is wrong," Anya spoke up. "This is his privacy and it's obvious he's not here to use Buffy, he just needed to leave. Xander, why can you leave him alone? You should know about wanting to start over again, than anyone else." 

Giles rubbed his eyes, he grabbed the articles out of Willow's hands. "I completely agree with Anya, which is a first. Xander you had no right digging into Pike's past. He is Buffy's friend and that is all we need to know, and by god I hope he doesn't find out what you have done. If I was in his place, I would want to hurt the person who dared to invade my privacy, this is OVER." Giles barked. 

"But Giles ... " 

"Xander, I'm telling you, this is over." Giles replied, his eyes narrowed. "And if Pike finds out about you doing this, I won't lie. So you better hope to god, he doesn't find these articles and ask who in the hell did this. Because I won't lie for you. Xander, you are very loyal to your friendship to Buffy and I appreciate that, but what you have done goes beyond friendship. Do you understand what I hold in my hands? It's years full of pain, and I won't stand back and watch this. I love Buffy, like she was a daughter, and in that love ... I trust Pike. He saved her, he has answered the questions we all asked him, and that is all I need to know about him." 

Xander stood next to Willow and Anya, all three of them watching Giles turn on his heel and stomp out of the room in anger.   


*** 

"Hey guys," Anya greeted with a smile, when Pike, Buffy and Dawn entered the magic shop. She stared at Pike, she smiled at him. She wasn't good at lying, and she felt a need to tell Pike what Xander and Willow did, but she bit it in. There was no way she could tell on her fiancé, _man ... only if humans didn't have such big hearts, _Anya thought to herself, pouting slightly. 

"Hey," Dawn said, grinning. "I bought the coolest outfit, Pike helped me pick it out." Dawn replied. 

"Yeah, she didn't want to ask me if it was okay. She was like I'll just ask Pike." Buffy said, smirking at Pike. "Pike, I had no idea you were so suave when it came to girls clothing." Buffy said, putting her bags down. "So where's everybody? It seems so quiet here." Buffy replied, out of the corner of her eyes, she watched Dawn and Pike going through the bags, she smiled at the image that flew through her head ... at the moment they were acting like two excited little kids on Halloween, going through their bags of candy. Buffy shook the thought out of her head and looked at Anya, for the first time realizing how fidgety she was. "Are you okay?" 

"Fine!" Anya exploded, she lowered her tone when Pike and Dawn stopped searching through the bags for a few seconds to look at Anya. "I'm fine, um everyone is in the back room ... " Anya stopped when Willow, Giles and Xander emerged from the back room. "Oh no they're not, look here they are." Anya replied, smiling. "Buffy, Pike and Dawn are back from the mall." She announced. 

"We brought donuts." Dawn replied, she grabbed the box full of donuts and walked over and put them on the counter. "But me and Pike ate the creamed ones on the way here. It was so cool, Pike even promised me he would give me a ride on his motorcycle later. Oh yeah Xander, you have to go get Pike's car. It's abandoned on the side of the road, near Wilmington street." Dawn replied. 

Xander just nodded, without saying a word. 

"There is no way I'm letting Dawn on that thing Pike." Buffy replied, staring at Pike, with humor in her eyes. 

"Then I'll just grab her in the middle of the night and whisk her away on my as you call it, contraption from hell." Pike answered. 

"Hey, I have _no _problem with that!" Dawn exclaimed, grinning widely. 

Giles smiled softly. "We have a car repair shop in town, but it takes them forever to fix anything. It might take a few days, you don't have anywhere to go do you? Because they're very slow in fixing, even their own cars." Giles replied, tiredly. 

Dawn looked at Pike questioningly, soon followed by Buffy. 

Pike looked at both the Summers' girls and then smiled at them reassuringly. "No, I'm free for the next few days." 

Dawn grinned.   


*** 

"Need any help?" Pike asked Willow, who had an arm full of books, which looked like spell books. 

Willow looked through the space in between the books and smiled when she saw Pike. "Um sure," she said, the minute she said the words, half the books were taken. "Hey I can see now." Willow said, smirking. "I just need them to go in the back room, I need to price them, and look through them, to just see if they have anything we would actually need." Willow said, "So follow me." Willow replied, she started to walk in the back room, with Pike a few steps behind her. "Dawn seems to take a liking to you." 

"She's cool," Pike replied, walking into the back room behind Willow. "One hell of a shopper, just like her sister, back in LA." 

"Was Buffy that bad?" Willow asked, setting the books down on the wooden table, the books resting on the stack of articles on Pike. "I've only heard a few stories from Buffy, she said she was worse than the cheerleaders in our old high school. But I find that a bit unbelievable, I just can't think of Buffy being like them, she's just so ... um, realistic?" Willow posed the question, smiling. 

Pike chuckled. "Oh she was horrible. She was like the queen of the valley girls. She would use words like 'as if, like, oh my god, whatever, loser' four billion times in one sentence. But yeah, you're right, she does seem a whole lot mature. She's been through a lot of pain, forced to grow up early, she's had a hard life. She deals with it very maturely." Pike replied, he smiled. He hauled the books over to the wooden table and slammed the books on top of the prior books. He went to turn to Willow but a flash of white caught his eye. Pike looked down and saw a stack of papers stuck underneath the books. Pike grabbed the papers, he stared at them questioningly, and stared reading them. A few words into the first page, his eyes were narrowed in anger. 

Willow stared at Pike, and froze when she saw his eyes, and what he was looking at. "Pike," She started. 

"Who?" Pike asked, looking up from the stacks of paper. "Who got these? Was it you?" Pike asked, his eyes blazing in anger. 

"I searched for them, I didn't want to Pike. Will you just listen to me? Xander, he was just worried for Buffy and Dawn. He was afraid that the only reason you were in Sunnydale was to use Buffy, we've had a few of Buffy's friends come into town, just to use her. So he just wanted to search on you. I didn't want to, it was invading your privacy, but Xander was just so worried ... " 

Pike's face hardened. "I can't believe this." 

"Pike, wait!" Willow screamed. 

Pike turned on his heel and stomped out of the back room, with Willow just one or two steps behind him. He stared at Anya first, then Giles, he glanced over at Buffy and Dawn, before finally setting his eyes on Xander. "How dare you?" Pike asked, he threw the papers down to the ground and grabbed Xander by the collar of his shirt and threw him against the wall. 

"PIKE!" Buffy screamed, she ran over to Pike and tugged at his arm. "What in the hell are you doing?" She exploded. 

Dawn bent down and grabbed the papers, she began reading them, suddenly all of her shock was gone from her body and anger was soon replaced. Dawn shook her head, she ran over to Buffy and handed Buffy the papers. "Look!" Dawn exclaimed. 

"I just NEEDED to know who you were!" Xander choked out. 

"That was MY past, you had no right. I didn't come here for all of you to dig into my past. You had no damn right, you invaded my privacy and that was just plain wrong. You don't see me looking around in any of your past do you? You don't know what happened, and I don't care how concerned you were about Buffy, you had no right, no right whatsoever." Pike screamed, he let Xander go and shook his head. He rubbed his face and turned to Buffy. "I'm out of here." He said, running out of the magic shop. 

Giles sighed, he began picking up the books and other items that had fallen, but didn't dare say a word. He looked up and saw the enraged look that was embedded in Buffy's eyes, and her anger was directed at Xander. The look he saw in Buffy's eyes were enough to make Giles want to stay quiet for the rest of his life. He knew this would come back, he just knew it. 

"How dare you," Buffy said, in an outraged voice, but it was oddly calm. "This was Pike's past, you didn't need to know any of it. All you needed to know was that Pike is my friend, and that he saved me, that was all you ever needed to know. What happened to Pike before he came here, was none of your business. I don't care what your reasons were, but you crossed a line Xander." 

Xander pushed himself up. "I was just worried that he was using you ... " 

"You had no right." Buffy replied. "Dawn get your stuff, we're going to leave, hopefully we'll be able to catch Pike before he leaves Sunnydale. And you know what? I don't blame him, for wanting to leave, Xander ... if you wanted to chase him out of town, then you did a wonderful job, thanks a whole lot. You want to know something? I'm in so much pain right now, you guys tore me away from heaven, away from my pain, away from my happiness ... and then the one person that makes me smile, comes back and you guys chase him off! It's not fair, just leave me alone." Buffy exclaimed, she ran out of the magic shop, with Dawn behind her. 

"Are you happy with yourself?" Giles exploded, walking into the back room. 

Willow and Anya looked at each warily and then walked over to Xander and helped him up.   



End file.
